Orthodox Church members in Poland

Orthodox Church members form a socio-religious group seperated from Russian Orthodox Church in the latter half of the 17th century in result of reforms initiated by Moscow patriarch Nikon. Persecuted by the official Orthodox Church they searched for places appropriate for practising their faith in the uninhabited regions of Russia and beyond its borders on the territory of Poland, Sweden, Turkey, Austria and Prussia. Divided into various religious groups (e.g. followers and opponents of the pope) as a result of diversified interpretation of many religious issues, the Orthodox Church members settled down in three regions of present day Poland: Mazury, Augustów, Suwałki and Sejny. Strict religious dictates and injunctions made the number of “old faith” believers diminish with time. In 1994 their population in Poland amounted to 2137: 67 people in the historic region of Mazury, 850 - in the Suwałki-Sejny region (722- in Suwałki itself), 1220 - in Augustów region (910 - in Augustów itself and 130 - in Gabowe Grądy). Having legalised their Church in the 1980s this small religious group has been carrying out activities which aim at the development of their community. It is reflected by older members’ adherence to their faith and transmitting it together with other traditions onto younger generations. The fact that Orthodox Church members have one religion is not equivalent with their belonging to the same nation (they consider themselves Polish, Russian or German nationals). Most Orthodox Church members do not know Old Church Slavic (even the liturgy) and at home depending on the region, they use Polish, Russian or German. Now that interest in different ethnic groups has been revived, this small group with long historical tradition merits to be brought closer to other inhabitants of the country whose history they contributed to make.Staroobrzędowcy to grupa społeczno-religijna, wyodrębniona w drugiej połowie XVII w. z łona rosyjskiego Kościoła prawosławnego. Celem artykułu jest ukazanie genezy oraz współczesnej sytuacji staroobrzędowców w Polsce. Przedstawiono rozwój ich świadomości narodowej, struktury religijnej, stopnia tożsamości etnicznej i kulturowej, konfliktów.Zadanie pt. „Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki” nr 885/P-DUN/2014 zostało dofinansowane ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej naukę